220515696-Intergenerational Transmissions
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Section 1
The intergenerational transmission of violence theory points out that parents are often the strongest role models for their children, and when children witness one parent hitting, or abusing the other parent or the children, the children cannot help but learn that this is how their parents interact between each other and with them. Therefore, violence is understood to be a normal and acceptable part of family life. Consequently, children who grow up in this environment are more likely to repeat similar behaviors of violence, however, it does not mean that they are destined to such behavior actually happening (Alvarez and Bachman, 2008).
This argument is based primarily on the social learning theory, which states that violence is learned just like any other form of behavior. According to Hines and Malley-Morrison (2005) the most popular explanations for family violence comes from the social learning theory. Therefore, theorists predict that children who observe interpersonal violence or experience violence at the hands of their parents are likely to repeat this behavior in their own family relationships as adults. This social learning model has been argued that, the exposure to violence between parents may also teach children that violence is an acceptable or effective means of resolving conflicts with partners. Excessively coercive punishment may serve as a model for coercive conflict resolution that is learned and generalized from the parent– child relationship to the romantic partner relationship (Ehrensaft et al., 2003).
In the study by Ehrensaft et al. (2003), 543 children were followed for over 20 years to test the independent effects of parenting, exposure to domestic violence between the parents, maltreatment, adolescent disruptive disorders, and emerging adult substance abuse disorders. The findings suggest that childhood behavior problems are among the strongest predictors of partner violence, that conduct disorder appears to mediate the effect of child abuse, and that exposure to violence between parents and power assertive punishment during childhood significantly increases the risk for using violent conflict resolution within intimate relationships. Injury and physical abuse are the result for partner violence cases. The research shows that partner violence prevention programs for youth with such risk patterns seem necessary, mainly because partner violence remains highly resistant to treatment in adulthood.
Derek Truscott (1992) examined the intergenerational influence of experiencing parental violence on the appearance of violent behavior in adolescent males, and to attempt to evaluate the importance of psychological mechanisms in this transmission. The findings supported the hypothesis that violence is transmitted intergenerationally. However, the findings on that violent adolescent males have lowered self esteem, employ internalizing defenses to a lesser degree, employ externalizing defenses to a greater degree, and exhibit more psychotic symptoms were only partially supported. From this research, we can see that males’ violent behavior in adolescence was not found to be associated with maternal violence experienced or parental violence witnessed or with low self-esteem, externalizing defenses, or internalizing defenses. The violent behavior was mostly present when the adolescent experienced violence directly from the father (e.g. Father actually beating him physically, or abusing him verbally).
Carroll (1977) examined the argument that family violence is passed on from generation to generation. The results of the study showed that there was a tendency for family violence to be transmitted from generation to generation. Also, low parental warmth and to a lesser extent the existence of a stressful family relationship in the first generation were factors that appeared to affect the intergenerational transmission of family violence. Finally, it was found that the transmission of family violence was more likely to occur in same-sex relationship. These results are offered as potential for a future theory of the transmission of family violence.
Section 2
The following comes from an interview that Oprah did with men who beat the women they love. Sir says the first time he laid his hands on his wife, Christy, was just weeks after their wedding. He says he got jealous after a party where she was dancing with someone else. "It set me off. I remember walking up to her and smacking her full force," Sir says. "I grabbed her by her neck, and I kind of held her against the car. Then, I walked her over to the bushes and threw her in there, and I just started choking her. It was with every bit of rage, every bit of anger I've ever had."
After the first incident of abuse, Sir says he held a gun to his head. "It was very hard for me to come to grips with the man that I was," he says. Sir promised Christy it would never happen again, and she forgave him. However, that was not the last time he beat his wife. It finally ended when Christy gave Sir an ultamatem.
Though Sir cannot speak for all men, he believes his own abusive behavior was triggered by his past. "Kids are precious -- they record everything," he says. "I grew up in an abusive household, so I didn't know how to verbally communicate with my wife without putting her down. I didn't know how to verbally disagree with her and say, 'We don't see eye to eye,' and be okay with that."
Section 3
The intergenerational transmission of violence applies to the example in section 2 because Sir learned his abuse behavior from his family. His family had demostrated that hitting and verbally abusing another person was an acceptable way to solving problems. He even says himself that he did not know how to communicate with someone with out putting them down.
Intergenerational Transmission can be prevented or intervented by therapy. Traditional psychotherapeutic technique in which the patient engages in a retrospective journey, reviving memories of childhood and infancy. While this retrospective approach has frequently proven effective, the patient's use of defensive operations often disguises conflict, making the therapeutic process difficult and time consuming. Especially in cases involving adolescent parents with histories of abuse, retrospective techniques may not be adequate for preventing a replication of abuse in the caregiver's relationship with her child (Trad, 1993).
On the other hand, Trad (1993) proposes a new therapeutic technique based on adaptive interaction between caregiver and infant during the early years of life, may avoid some of the difficulties posed by more traditional methods. Previewing adopts a prospective approach, requiring the patient to predict significant about to happen events in his or her life. While these events involve the future, conflict from the past will nevertheless be insinuated into the patient's narrative. Since this narrative concerns events that have not occurred, it is likely that the patient will not yet have subjected the prediction to the disguising effect of the defensive operations. As a result, conflicted material may emerge in relatively uncontaminated form, helping the therapist formulate a diagnosis. Also, when the patient is unable to continue the previewing exercise because of a representational shortage, conflict may be present. At these times, the therapist should use the patient's remarks to evaluate the conflict. Finally, the developmental approach may be combined with more traditional psychotherapeutic techniques. Supplementing traditional techniques with previewing may explain the conflict and result in a more beneficial treatment for the patient.
Section 4
The Columbine example does not apply to Intergenerational transmission. It does not apply because the research does not say that the shooters violent behavior was learned from their parent.
References
Alvarez, A. & Bachman, R. (2008). Violence: The Enduring Problem. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.
Carroll, J. (1977). The intergenerational transmission of family violence: the long term effects of aggressive behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 3. 289-299.
Ehrensaft, M. K., Cohen, P., Smailes, E., Chen, H., & Johnson, J. G. (2003). Intergenerational transmission of partner violence: a 20-year prospective study. Journal of Consulting andClinical Psychology, 7(4), 741-753.
Hines, D.A., & Malley-Morrison, K. (2005). Family Violence in the United States: Defining, Understanding, and Combating Abuse. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage Publications.
Trad, P. V. (1993). Applying a prospective approach to the treatment of abuse by adolescent parents. Psychotherapy, 30(1), 103-114.
Truscott, D. (1992). Intergenerational transmission of violent behavior in adolescent males. Aggressive Behavior, 18. 327-335.
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